MIDWEST BLUES BEAT

by Eric Steiner

NOT YOUR EVERYDAY CLASS REUNION (S)

Mark your calendars! Save the date! Cut this column out and paste it to your refrigerator! Circle September 10th on your calendar! Do whatever it takes to get out to Berwyn to fill Fitzgerald’s for what promises to be a landmark blues show this month.

It’s not often that I start off my column with such a strong recommendation of a live show, but I’d like to spread the good news about The Siegel-Schwall Band’s show and their new Alligator Records CD, Flash Forward.

Welcome Back Siegel-Schwall Band!

I’m shouting about an important local blues reunion of Corky Siegel, Jim Schwall, Rollo Radford and Sam Lay at Fitzgerald’s on September 10th.

Last September, I had the good fortune to realize a dream I held for over 25 years: to see The Siegel-Schwall Band live again. I used to see them around Chicagoland in the late ‘70s, before I moved to the Pacific Northwest. During their Pacific Northwest tour last year, The Siegel-Schwall Band transported a Seattle’s Triple Door Lounge to Chicago with “I’m A King Bee,” “Hey Billie Jean,” and “Got My Mojo Working.”

Corky Siegel is one of the most inventive harp players around, and he’s also pushed the blues in a decidedly experimental direction with his Chamber Blues work that bridges the music of Seiji Osawa and Muddy Waters in unpredictable, but often joyful, ways.

Long-time blues fans (of a certain age, like me and your Beatboss Tom Lounges) know that The Siegel-Schwall Band needs no introduction, and they’ll be hard-pressed to find a more exciting evening that will surely be filled with surprises and Chicago blues tradition than September 10th at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn.

For newcomers to Midwest Blues Beat, the Siegel-Schwall Band is an important part of the past, present, and future of Chicago Blues. The Siegel-Schwall Band held court at groundbreaking nightspots like the Quiet Knight, Pepper’s Lounge, and the Avalon Ballroom in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Along the way, they recorded blues reference works like Sleepy Hollow (1970), 953 West (the address of the fabled Quiet Knight on Belmont Street), and their first reunion CD in 1988 on Alligator, Reunion Concert, recorded for broadcast on WXRT-FM.

On Flash Forward, the Siegel-Schwall Band celebrates its first release of original material in over 30 years.

Thanks to Alligator Records, Flash Forward will remain a lasting contribution to the blues for years to come.

Another Chicago Blues Reunion

Last year, Corky Siegel and Sam “The Shufflemaster” Lay reunited at Fitzgerald’s with a few old friends as the Chicago Blues Reunion.

What do keyboard player Barry Goldberg, guitarists Harvey “The Snake” Mandel and Nick “The Greek” Gravenites, and singer Tracy Nelson do when they have a few spare evenings to rehearse and reconnect?

Well, they put together an outstanding evening of music that is a delight for blues fans of all ages.

Over the decades, their musical paths have intersected periodically (Goldberg produced Tracy Nelson in one of her first bands, Mother Earth; Gravenites brought South Side blues to North Side audiences in Electric Flag, and Siegel learned the bluesman’s trade as a solo artist and co-founder of the Siegel-Schwall Band).

As Chicago Blues Reunion, they make blues magic that’s captured by Northbrook’s Out of the Box Records on a CD/DVD package, Buried Alive in the Blues.

Buried Alive in the Blues has been in my CD player more often than not lately, for songs like the title cut (written by Gravenites for Janis Joplin, who died of an overdose before she was scheduled to record it), Sam Lay’s upbeat “I’ve Got to Find My Baby,” and Tracy Nelson’s “Got a New Truck.”

The accompanying DVD features interviews with the band, features newcomer Kyle Riabko, and intersperses live performances captured at Fitzgerald’s.

Goldberg talks about the emotions he felt singing “Sweet Home Chicago” to a hometown crowd last year; I only wish that it had landed on either the CD or DVD. I treasure what I think is the definitive version of that song (Lonnie Brooks live at ChicagoFest in 1980 on the Blues Deluxe compilation recorded live by Alligator), but it would have been a real treat to see the Chicago Blues Reunion celebrate that song on the DVD and on the CD.

I was at ChicagoFest when Lonnie played that song with Ken Saydak on keyboards in 1980, and it remains one of my most enduring blues memories.

Thanks to WXRT and Alligator, I can press play and hear Lonnie Brooks tear it up at any time.

The Steepwater Band En Espana!

Region blues rock favorites, The Steepwater Band kicks off a major Spanish rock festival, September 1-3 in Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque Countryside of Northern Spain.

The Azkena Rock Festival features: Gov’t Mule, Television, Drive-By Truckers, Social Distortion, Wilco, and over 15 other bands over three days of music. Headlining Friday’s show will be Deep Purple, and Saturday’s main event will be The Pogues with Shane McGowan.

Local (for theVitoria-Gasteizarea) Basque rockers Soul Breaker Company and Los Deltonos. Let’s welcome the boys home when they return from their first European tour. In the meantime, check out www.azkenarockfestival.com

Word on the calle (street) is that a surprise American band will be announced during the festival.

When a Midwestern band of the stature and potential of The Steepwater Band enjoys this type of touring success, it’s cause for celebration to support one of our own! Keep up with the boys at: www.steepwater.com

Hot September Blues Tickets

Labor Day weekend offers a diverse menu of local musical choices, ranging from Naperville’s Last Fling Fest with Wayne Baker Brooks, to Highland Park’s Ravinia Festival with Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang (on acoustic), but one show that will be hard to beat will be Tab Benoit’s visit to Chord On Blues in St. Charles on the 3rd and 4th, touring behind his exceptional Telarc release, Fever for the Bayou.

On the 10th, the Rolling Stones revisit Soldier Field. On the 16th, join the North Mississippi All Stars as they descend at Chicago’s House of Blues, and on the 17th, two great blues divas play the Wells Street Music Festival: Cathy Richardson and Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine.

Until Rocktober, let’s play the blues!

Back to Top

Web Design By:
Hungry Mind Design